Hidden or out of sight vehicle storage compartments are well known in the art. Many hidden storage compartments are used for housing electronic components or control modules in areas that are visually inconspicuous to vehicle passengers and spatially confined out of way of the vehicle passengers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,658 discloses storage units that are incorporated beneath a second row of seating, for housing control modules and also serving as a tread upon which vehicle passengers in a third row of seating can place and rest their feet. Although such efforts have proven beneficial and successful for providing inconspicuous storage for the control modules, not all vehicles have second or third rows of seating, or space readily available under such seating.
Correspondingly, yet other efforts have been made to provide general storage or storage for various electronic components, control modules, and/or vehicle batteries in compartments that are recessed into floors of vehicles. The bottom and sidewalls of such recessed storage compartments are integrated into the floors during their manufacturing, such as during floor pan pressing or drawing procedures. Typically, complex false floors are used in combination with the floor pans to provide a generally flat surface for the vehicles' carpeting. Some such false floors are constructed by partially overlapping numerous carbon fiber pieces, in a shingle-like manner, which are screwed into the underlying floor pans.
Such known false floors have proven beneficial and successful for providing lightweight and generally flat surfaces that can be covered with vehicle carpeting. Although these false floors have in the past enjoyed considerable commercial success, further technological developments could prove desirable. For example, the known false floors are labor intensive to install and require a substantial amount of hardware, since each or many of the numerous carbon fiber pieces must be screwed into the underlying floor pans. Typical false floors are not robust enough to serve as mounting substrates, whereby lower hard trim pieces and other trim pieces must be attached to the floor pan or other vehicle body segment with associated brackets, clips, studs, and/or other mounting hardware. Known false floors are not waterproof, whereby any liquid that enters the vehicle or is spilled on the floor can eventually run into the recessed storage compartments. Furthermore, a typical false floor permits routing of wire harnesses and/or other conductors in a conventional manner. In other words, wire harnesses and/or other conductors in typical false floor applications are installed under pieces of trim and under carpeting, and are secured by wire mounts, zip-ties, or other wire restraints to the vehicle's floor pans. Accordingly, if repair(s) to, or trouble diagnosis of, a vehicle electronic system are needed that require accessing the electronic components, control modules, vehicle batteries, and/or wiring, then disassembling or removing numerous portions or components of the vehicle's interior, such as pieces of trim and carpeting, is required. Such disassembly or removal of vehicle interior components is commonly referred to as “de-trimming” the vehicle, which can be a time-consuming endeavor and can at times require new hardware for reinstalling or reassembling the vehicle interior components.
Accordingly, a modular vehicle floor system that reduces the number of fasteners required for installation and can suitably protect electronic components while permitting access thereto could prove beneficial.